Skies on Fire: Evil Walks
by Landiana
Summary: Veronica needs a project - Dean's death is too easy to pass up. Chloe needs help when a friend is attacked. Both women are drawn into the Winchester's lives with no idea of the concequences Veronica/Dean Chloe/Sam written for sncrossbigbang cross with VM
1. Chapter 1

**This is the start of what I suspect will become a series. Written for sncross_bigbang over on livejournal (you should check it out, the link to my livejournal is on my page)**

Chapter One

Veronica dropped the pile of files down onto the desk with more than a little excessive force. She grimaced at the covert looks her fellow operatives gave her as she glared at the pile before her. She knew what they were thinking without even having to see the sympathetic eyes which now dogged her footsteps. _Poor Agent Mars, losing her husband in such a tragic way, so young, such a shame. _Veronica closed her eyes and took two deep even breaths. She was sick of all of the fake concern bullshit everyone pulled.

"_You wanted to see me, Agent Stewart?" Veronica asked her supervisor as she walked through the door. The sympathetic, half smile was already pasted on the older agent's face as he looked up from a pile on his desk. Veronica looked at her supervisor and smiled a little internally. Agent Stewart could be safely described as your stereotypical FBI Agent; pressed suit, late thirties to early forties, short black hair, nondescript features which allowed him to blend in to any number of situations._

"_Agent Mars. Please, sit down." He motioned to the empty chair in front of him and Veronica did as he bid her. She lifted an eyebrow expectantly, eager to get back to her case. The supervisor chuckled and leant back in his chair. _

"_You've got some nerve, Mars, you know, coming in here with attitude after the shit that just went down," he commented, lacing his fingers together. Veronica's expression didn't waver._

"_With all due respect sir, I had a lead and I followed it." Veronica attempted to infuse her voice with some semblance of the aforementioned respect, but it failed to materialise, and instead came out sarcastic. It was hard to be respectful to a man who only inspired distaste in her. He was no Keith Mars. Hell, he wasn't even on par with Don Lamb, and Veronica detested him._

"_This ain't Mars Investigations, damn it!" His fist pounded into the table as his anger mounted. "You don't go running in half cocked like a bull in a china shop. Mars, there are proper channels!"_

"_Next time, I'll ask for permission to do my job. So sorry I didn't tell you that I'd be out after curfew," Veronica bit back._

"_You're off the case. I'm putting Berkley on it."_

"_You've got to be kidding me!" Veronica laughed humorously. "Berkley could be outwitted by Forest Gump! He couldn't investigate his way out of a paper bag. It's my case."_

"_Not anymore. You're too emotionally invested now. I shoulda taken you off the case as soon as the last body turned up. You're losing it Mars, and I don't want to see one of my agents go off the deep end." The sympathetic eyes returned. "Everything that just happened in Detroit proves you're not emotionally equipped for this." _

"_I did my job. Bodies turned up with the same marking on them. When the bodies didn't materialise for us to examine, I investigated. What more do you want? Perhaps some juggling in the midst of a manhunt?"_

"_You accused the whole goddamn police force of fabricating evidence and covering up for a serial killer. You're lucky I'm not taking your badge!"_

"_David, I need this case." Veronica said quietly, almost desperately. This case was the only thing which could take her mind away from the empty house which awaited her, stop her looping her last homecoming over and over._

"_No. That's my final word. You're on desk duty until this case is over. I convinced the Director that giving you enforced leave would damage the investigation. I know you Mars, and from now on, you're filing dead cases into the new system. No buts. Just do it, Veronica."_

"_Yes sir, of course sir, three bags full sir. How high would you like me to jump sir?" She said as she rose. She flourished a hand and bowed. "I live to serve."_

"_You can start with these," He said tapping the pile._

Two long years of dedicated service in the FBI, and what did it get her? Entering dead cases into the new filing database and then placing them in the filing cabinet, all in a musty old room filled with line upon wall of cabinets. A thrilling job, to be sure. To fill her time, Veronica found herself reading through the cases, trying to piece together how the investigation progressed, and what ultimately ended the case. She thought about how she would lead an investigation into the case. Anything to distract her overly active mind from the case she had been forced to hand over to Berkley. The smug, self satisfied bastard. Veronica and John Berkley had been in the Academy together and had a strong relationship of mutual disdain and hatred from the beginning, Berkley because he hated that a woman was better than him, Veronica because he was a misogynistic pig. Veronica had passed him in the halls earlier, and he had looked down on her and smirked. He lifted his eyebrows, as if urging her to concede defeat, and Veronica itched to kick him. Preferably below the belt.

Veronica took a deep breath and looked down at the case file she had been looking at before her mind had drifted to fantasies of taking John Berkley down a few notches. It was a couple of years old now, from when Veronica had only just left the Academy, but she remembered the fuss which had been made over this man and his brother. She remembered that Agent Hendrickson would stalk the halls of this office in between his stints on location looking for the two criminals. As she looked through the file, the more the details didn't appear to add up. Veronica placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully. Since the suspect was supposedly long dead (although no body had been recovered) no one would care if she copied a few details, surely. No one was keeping an eye on her, and she needed a pet project. Maybe she could piece together the facts. Veronica smiled as she closed the file and looked at the lettering on the front. It read:

**CASE NUMBER 200845637DW**

**SUSPECT: DEAN WINCHESTER**

Chloe Sullivan looked at the schematics on the screen in front of her, following the progress of a green dot moving steadily through the hallway of what was meant to be an abandoned medical research facility. In reality it was a cover for one of the various 33.1 facilities throughout the world in which Lex Luthor captured those who had become infected by the meteor rocks which had fallen on Smallville twice, or had a naturally occurring Meta ability.

"Arrow to Watchtower," an artificially deepened voice crackled in Chloe's ear piece. "Am I good to go?"

A flash of a red dot appeared briefly on the screen in a room labelled _Control Room 1_ before disappearing again. Chloe pulled up the surveillance camera feed in that room and smiled as she saw Bart "Impulse" Allen blow a kiss at the only working camera in the room and wave a specific piece of paper at it. Chloe zoomed in on the paper briefly to see its contents on the high resolution image her computer automatically generated and nodded. She then deleted the few frames of film from the surveillance camera mainframe and systematically destroyed it, then cut power to that camera as well.

"Watchtower to Arrow. Impulse has the item. Looping all of the security feeds now." Chloe said as tapped several keys in rapid succession, looping the same 5 minute length of film to play over and over again to the security guards in their office near the front of the building. "Arrow, you're good to go."

"Roger that Watchtower," Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen said as the green dot on the screen began moving more rapidly through the hallway until it got to a pair of double doors. Chloe watched the dot as it moved quickly through the building, moving towards the medical bays.

"Impulse to Watchtower," Bart said as the red dot appeared briefly on her screen again. "All of the guards are occupied at the moment, mamacita."

"Thanks Impulse," Chloe said with a smile. Bart Allen never failed to cheer her up, it had to be said. "Watchtower to team, you are good to go."

Three voices sounded out their acknowledgement and entered the facility, enacting their pre-planned roles. Yellow, orange and purple dots joined the green one on Chloe's main screen, as well as the occasional flash of red as Bart stopped patrolling the building for a split second.

Chloe kept an eye on all of the heat signatures in the building as each of the members of the Justice League of America on this mission did what they needed to do. As Watchtower, she watched over them. On occasion she would pull up the live video feed from each team member's glasses to check on their progress.

"Cyborg to Watchtower, I've got the information you needed from the central database. I'm sending the medical records to the good Doctor as we speak." Victor "Cyborg" Stone said. Chloe checked the schematics, and saw several red flashing dots approaching the room in which Cyborg's purple dot steadily shone.

"Cyborg, you have incoming hostiles. Aquaman, head over to Cyborg's location and deal with them." Chloe said efficiently as she traced the information Victor was sending to Doctor Emil Hamilton.

"Roger that Watchtower," Arthur "Aquaman" Curry said as the orange dot on her screen intercepted the moving hostiles. She pulled up the feed from Oliver's glasses and was pleased to see him disconnecting wires from an unconscious patient.

"Impulse, Green Arrow needs you in Medical Bay one" Chloe said, moving the video feed to one side, watching the schematics carefully.

"Arrow to Watchtower, Impulse is taking the last of the casualties out of the building as we speak." Chloe started to respond, but her attention was caught by a blue dot on the edge of the screen. Not a heat signature and not one of the team, but still a human body. She quickly processed where each of the team members were, and how important what they were doing was. A.C. was still dealing with the hostiles, Victor was downloading yet more information, Bart was dealing with the casualties and taking them one by one to the JLA medical facility in Star City, and Oliver was on the other side of the building. That left only one other team member active on this mission.

"Watchtower to Speedy, I need you to check something out for me. Start going along the corridor you are in, heading towards the double doors, I'll guide you the rest of the way." Chloe watched the yellow dot, signifying Mia "Speedy" Dearden; start to move rapidly in the direction indicated. Chloe gave her quick instructions, and disabled all of the alarm systems guarding the room with the blue dot. She typed in one last override code to open the door of the room in question.

"Uh, Watchtower, there's some freaky shit in this room. I'm sending you a visual now," Speedy said as the yellow dot stopped moving. Moments later the computer to Chloe's right registered an incoming visual from Speedy's sunglasses. The live feed began playing, and Chloe almost felt sick to the stomach at the image presented to her. In the time that they had been dealing with Lex and 33.1 she had seen some terrible things, but this, this was truly horrific.

The walls, floor and ceiling of the room was covered in strange sigils, drawn in fresh dripping blood, covering every spare inch of space. At the centre of the room was a large circle, painted in dripping blood. Strange words were written at the edge of the circle, with a seven pointed star in the middle, points touching the egde of the writing. At the centre of the star was metal six pointed star, standing upright. Chained to this star was a man. His hands were nailed to the star, silver chains looping round his middle and torso were the only things keeping him upright. Blood flowed from bullet wounds in his shoulders, from fresh gashes in his chest, from jagged holes in his legs. Chloe was fairly sure that she could see a hint of ivory poking from his one arm, clearly a broken bone. Burns, both from chemicals and fire littered his skin. His head was flopped forward against his chest.

"Is he breathing?" Chloe asked Mia quietly.

"I don't know," Mia said as she began to move forward, trying to avoid the biggest patches of blood on the floor. She felt something wet land on her bare shoulder. Suppressing the urge to gag, Mia ignored the blood which began to run down her arm. She moved closer to the man on the star. A faint humming noise reverberated around the walls. Her heart sped up. She inched closer, trying desperately not to tread into the words written around the edge of the circle. As her second foot entered the circle completely, the man's head snapped up. His eyes were completely black, and his mouth was twisted into a sneer. Mia flinched back.

Chloe felt a jolt of apprehension as the man opened his mouth and laughed. Laughed loud and unrestrained. The laugh of a madman.

"Watchtower to Arrow, are you done?" Chloe asked, a hint of fear for Mia colouring her voice.

"Yes, Impulse has taken the last of the casualties to the med bay, and is transporting all of the guards out. Cyborg and Aquaman are planting explosives as we speak. What's wrong?"

"Go to Speedy's location now Arrow." Her voice brooked no arguments. The man on her screen continued to laugh.

"Speedy, Arrow is on his way. Step back." As Mia started to comply with Chloe's instructions the laughter stopped abruptly.

"Don't do that now sweetheart," a gravelly voice intoned gleefully. The man shifted his body until his shoulders wrenched back into place. "I like new people to talk to."

"Who are you?" Mia asked, her voice shaking a little.

"Who am I?" he appeared to be deep in thought. "I am... Sam. Yes. I am Sam. Sam I am. Green eggs and ham. Dr Seuss is a wonderful purveyor of words."

Mia slid her foot back slowly, ignoring the faint squelch of blood as she did so.

"You shouldn't have done that," the man said in a sing song voice. Mia froze. "Look at your feet."

Slowly Mia looked down, and saw the break in the circle her foot had made.

"Mia look up!" Chloe shouted. Her view of the situation was limited to what Mia's glasses showed, and she wanted to keep an eye on the strange man, 'Sam.' Mia looked back to the star. It was empty.

"Thank you very much, little girl," the gravelly voice sounded behind her. Mia spun around as the man grabbed her throat and bought her close to his face. "You and your friends have been most helpful!"

He pulled her lips to his, his superior brute strength winning over hers as Chloe cried out for Oliver. She felt so helpless. The body holding Mia suddenly slumped to the ground as Oliver slammed through the door, arrow already ready to fire in the bow. Mia stumbled away from the body on the floor, towards Oliver.

"Arrow, Speedy, what is happening?" Chloe asked as she pulled up the feed from Oliver's glasses on the screen next to Mia's. Slowly, cautiously, Oliver leant down and put his fingers on the man's throat.

"He's dead. Let's go Mia." Oliver took the girl by the hand and began pulling her out of the room. Chloe took a deep breath of relief as the door swung shut on the room.

Veronica looked at the closed file in front of her, and sat back on the black sofa. She took a deep breath and picked up her mobile phone, thumbing through the contacts until she found the number of her supervisor. She pressed call and held the phone to her ear, listening to the dial tone.

"Hello?" a female voice said calmly. Veronica smiled softly at the voice on the phone. Rosa Gelano was David Stewart's middle aged, take no prisoners receptionist and personal assistant. Many FBI agents, veterans and new, baulked when faced with an irate Rosa, and the majority knew when it was best to steer clear of David's office. Luckily, Rosa had taken a shine to Veronica, and was determined to feed her up.

"Hi Rosa," Veronica said sweetly. "It's Veronica, how are you doing today?"

"Oh, Veronica, I didn't expect you to be calling so late. I'm doing fine, Jody's got the flu at the moment, but George is at home with her so everything is taken care of," Rosa chuckled. "I dread to think what she has convinced my wayward husband of today. I'll just put you through to David, sweetheart. I'm thinking of you, okay?"

"Thanks Rosa, I hope Jody feels better soon." There was a characteristic click, and then a male voice sounded on the phone.

"Agent Mars, I was just about to leave the office," David said long sufferingly.

"Apologies, Agent Stewart. I didn't realise the time." That was a lie. Veronica had purposefully called at this time, knowing that at the end of the day David would be tired, and would want to get home to his wife and sons, and therefore would be more likely to grant her request. "I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour yesterday. I was emotional and out of line, and would normally have never dreamed of being so disrespectful. Spending the time alone today helped me gain some perspective."

"Go on," a slightly suspicious tone entered David Stewart's voice.

"I think that I need some time away. From work, from my house, anything which reminds me of Logan. If you would grant me leave, I'll go visit my dad, maybe take the long route back to Virginia. I'm really not dealing with everything as well as I should be." Veronica kept her tone of voice even, letting a little of her all too real bereavement slip through. As devastated as she was on the inside, Veronica wasn't above using it to get what she wanted.

"You're not using this was an excuse to chase down your own leads on this case are you?" suspicion still coloured her bosses voice.

"No," Veronica said, completely honestly and a little indignantly. "You can give the sheriff a call if you'd really like."

There was silence over the phone line for a few long moments, and Veronica could practically hear David thinking through her request. Then he spoke again.

"Okay Mars, I'll bite. I'll put you on 6 months leave for personal bereavement and you'll go on your little road trip, starting in Neptune. My only provisos are that you check in with me on occasion and I get to talk to Sherriff Mars once you get there, so I know you're being honest. That sound reasonable?" Veronica could tell that this was a solution which he was happy with, provided that Veronica stayed out of FBI business as she made her way back to Virginia. As much as he tried to hide it, David was as worried about Veronica's mental state as everyone else in the Bureau.

"Thank you, David," Veronica said sincerely. "Goodnight. Say hi to Anna for me?"

"Will do. Enjoy your break Mars," David said as he hung up. Veronica lowered her phone from her ear and placed it on the coffee table. 6 months to visit her dad and investigate the Winchester case. Plenty of time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to those of you who have read and added this to your alert lists. On my profile is my livejournal which has all of the amazing artwork which was done for me for the Supernatural Crossover Big Bang.**

Chapter Two

Chloe looked at the group of heroes as they walked through the doors of Watchtower, and resisted the urge to jump up when she noticed the clear limp in AC's left leg. She watched as Oliver and Mia walked in slowly, side by side, changed by now in to civilian gear. She gave Bart and Victor a quick check over mentally and was relieved to find that there were no obvious injuries on either of them. She stood up slowly and walked over to Mia and Oliver, careful to maintain the appearance of composure. If she broke down worrying, then the chances would be that everyone else would too. Chloe may have been Mama Bear to the group, but she was calm, composed, kick your ass mama bear. She was worried about Mia though.

"Emil checked everyone out, and they are fine," Oliver said as she approached them, pre-empting the question that was on Chloe's lips. "AC's leg got skimmed by a bullet from a trigger happy security guard, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Fish sticks is still gonna milk this for days though," Bart interjected as he appeared at Chloe's side, holding a bunch of flowers. "To brighten your day Chloelicous."

"Thank you Bart," Chloe smiled and took the flowers to the only empty vase on the side. Bart was in the habit of running to various locales in the world and bringing back flowers, and so Chloe was always prepared with several vases around the tower. She had to admit, they did brighten the room somewhat.

"How are you feeling Mia?" Chloe asked the younger girl as she added water to the vase. Mia shook her head quickly and then looked back at Chloe. She rubbed her temples and grimaced.

"A little dazed, with a bit of a headache, but Emil said that it was mostly shock. I'll be fine," she smiled unconvincingly, before sitting down on the sofa and closing her eyes. Chloe motioned for Oliver to come over by one of the computers, and took in his worried face as he walked with her.

"What did Emil say Ollie?" Chloe asked quietly as she took serendipitous looks at Mia. She watched as AC bought the teenager a bottle of water, and Bart began giving her a foot massage.

"Emil took some blood and should have the results back in a couple of days. He said she is suffering from shock more than anything, and that we just need to have someone with her for the next couple of days," Oliver said, his voice betraying the worry he felt for his young ward.

"Okay, that's it. I'm staying here for the next couple of days. Gotham can wait," Chloe whispered decisively. Oliver shook his head emphatically.

"You need to go Chloe. You know Bats wouldn't have asked for your help if he didn't need it. You are taking my jet first thing in the morning, and you are going to score major points for the JL with Bruce. Maybe then he will reconsider joining the team, alright?" Oliver whispered, as he took hold of the petite blonde's shoulders, looking down on her. "Besides, Mia's got a whole team of superheroes who will dote after her the next couple of days."

Chloe grinned at that. The men in their group tended to stray towards over protectiveness, and she was sure that after a couple of days Mia would be screaming in frustration at their coddling.

"Okay, I'll go. But you have to call me if there are any problems at all, alright Ollie?"

"I promise, Sidekick."

Veronica stared at the map of the continental USA which lay on the coffee table in front of her. She was sat in the house which Keith Mars now shared with Alicia Fennel, and Darrell, who was now a moody 14 year old. When Veronica had arrived a week earlier, she had been met with surprise, warmth and compassion from her whole family, including her soon to be brother Wallace who had been home for the weekend. Wallace now coached a college basketball team in North Carolina, and the last time Veronica had seen him (barring Logan's funeral) was at Christmas, almost 4 months before. She took some time to immerse herself back into her family life, before starting to work on the Winchester case. Veronica's mind started to wonder as she continued to stare at the map.

_Veronica sat back on the sofa sighing heavily. It had been a long day at the FBI, as tensions ran high as the Rochfield case continued to worsen. They had no leads, no inadmissible evidence against this family of notorious money launderers. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Hands came to rest on her shoulders, kneading the tense muscles there, sending her into relaxation. She breathed in Logan's scent and smiled as he kissed her head._

"_Hard day today?" He asked as he continued to massage her shoulders._

"_You have no idea," she said as he tackled the tight muscles in her shoulder blades. "That feels so good."_

"_I don't work so I have to look after my sugar mama, don't I?" He laughed._

"_Oh yeah, the son of movie stars really has a sugar mama!" Veronica laughed with him. Logan knew better than to point out that she didn't need to work with how large his inheritance was and the fact that he was still getting revenue from Aaron's various films and projects. Murderer or not, the people still liked daddy dearest, as Logan continued to refer to him with bitterness in his voice. Logan knew that without her work Veronica would likely go stir crazy. Instead he just said to her,_

_'When you can get time off we're going on holiday.' Veronica nodded her assent._

Veronica shook her head and fought back her grief, putting it back in the box in her head where she usually kept it and continued to look at the map. Paper surrounded her, as she marked off known places which the Winchester's had been seen or heard of. Monument, Colorado seemed to be the first place which made sense to stop, bearing in mind that was where the two brothers were supposedly killed in a explosion which took out the whole sheriff's department, although she saw in the report that no evidence of either body had been found. The Investigators on the case had just assumed that the bodies had been destroyed in the explosion which was centred around the interrogation room, and that one of them must have had a bomb on them when they entered the building. It did not all add up for Veronica though. She doubted, from what she had found out about the two men, that they were prone to suicide. St Louis was also a stop that she would make along the trip, as the location of the boys first major crime, the murder of several women in their own homes, and the attempted murder of another. Veronica rubbed her eyes and smiled. She would spend a few more days with her family, before hitting the road to find out why the Winchester case bothered her so much. Nothing like a good mystery to take the mind off the mysterious murder of your own husband.

_Ring! Ring! Ring! _

Chloe groaned as she heard the loud ringing echoing around the hotel room. She had been up late the night before, helping Batman to track and tag a crime syndicate which was the single biggest drug dealers in the city. They had got a handle on the location of the gang, and were planning on going in that night, Chloe playing mobile Watchtower in the 'batcave' while Batman did the heavy lifting. She looked at the screen of her mobile and groaned.

"Oliver, it's six in the morning," she groaned into the mouthpiece as she pulled her earpiece out of the draw.

"Chloe," The worried voice of Oliver Queen echoed through the earpiece of Chloe's phone as she put it to her ear. "Emil got Mia's results."

Chloe sat fully upright in bed and looked towards the laptop on her bedside table.

"Oliver, what's wrong?" Chloe, asked, worried by the tone of Oliver's voice. He was clearly worried about his ward, and that worried Chloe to no end.

"Emil sent the results to you. I think you need to come home. I'm sending the jet for you and will call Bruce to tell him the situation." Chloe booted up her laptop, and accessed the files sent by Doctor Hamilton. She scanned quickly through the medical records, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

"It says here that large quantities of sulphur was found in Mia's bloodstream, as well as in the skin cells Emil tested. She is showing irrational behaviour, unusual headaches and memory loss. What's wrong with her Oliver?"

"We don't know Chloe. You need to come home now."

Veronica pulled in front of the suburban house, tiredly scanning the road and all the cars in it. She was now in St Louis, having visited the new sheriff's department in Monument a few days before. That visit had thrown up no new evidence, except the report about the explosion which stated that no evidence of a bomb of any kind had been discovered at the site of the explosion. It was as if it had come out of nowhere, killing all people within a 20 block radius. Veronica had thanked the newest sheriff for his help in researching an article on unexplained incidences of explosion for the Daily Planet, and after a short, nightmare filled night, got in the car and drove to St Louis. She was sat outside the house of the only girl who had managed to escape from Dean Winchester, during his killing spree.

She got out of the car, taking her bag and a notepad with her. She walked up the front drive to a reasonably large house and knocked on the door. A man opened it, and grinned as he took in Veronica standing on his porch.

"Well, how can I help you miss?" He looked her up and down, and Veronica resisted the urge to slap him around the head. Guys like this one reminded her way too much of Dick Casablancas, which in turn reminded her of high school Logan, which in turn reminded her of... No. Veronica shook her head slightly and smiled up at the marginally taller guy, smiling her best college student smile.

"Is Rebecca Warren home?" she asked, looking him in the eye. She saw him visibly deflate. Perhaps he had hoped that she was having car trouble, and needed a 'big strong man' to help her.

"Sure, let me get her now. Becky!" he turned and shouted into the house. Veronica stood awkwardly on the doorstep, looking into the house, trying to remain relatively inconspicuous. A blonde girl came bounding to the front door, smiling as she approached the guy.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked as she got to the door and looked at Veronica in puzzlement.

"Hi Rebecca, I'm a student at Stanford, and I'm doing a research paper on violent crime against women, and since I'm from St Louis I thought I would base my paper around here. I was wondering if you would answer a few questions about what happened to you?" Veronica tried to look as innocent as possible, while still appearing interested in the subject as Becky immediately quietened, and the guy stiffened up, putting an arm protectively around her. Veronica was banking on the supposedly shared connections of Stanford and St Louis to get her at least into the door.

"Becky doesn't need to answer questions. It was a long time ago," The guy protested as he started to close the door. Becky put a hand on his arm and looked at Veronica for a long moment.

"Come on in."

"Maybe it was someone who looked like Dean, I don't know. What I do know is Sam was my friend and he and his brother came to town after the first couple of murders because I asked them for help. I don't think that Dean did it, and I know that Sam didn't have it in him to help a murderer escape." Veronica raised an eyebrow at Becky and jotted a few notes down on her paper. Clearly the girl believed that the Winchester brothers were innocent of anything which they had been accused of, and not for the first time, Veronica wondered if there was a lot more to this case than she had initially expected.

"Even if that murderer was his brother?" she asked sceptically as she wrote some more notes down about Becky, and the man she had learnt was the girl's brother, who had been accused of beating his own girlfriend to death, until Dean Winchester had been caught in Becky's home after attacking her.

"Even then. Sam was a good guy." Veronica took Becky at her word and stood up, guessing that she had got all of the information she was likely to get from this pair. They would only end up talking round in circles if she stayed.

"Thank you for talking to me," she shook each of their hands as they stood up and led her to the door.

"Good luck with your paper," Becky said as she closed the door behind Veronica. Veronica murmured her thanks and then walked out to her car and climbed in, trying to process the information that she had just been given. While Becky vehemently defended the two Winchesters, her brother took a very different view. He clearly blamed Dean for the time that he had spent locked up because he had been suspected of murdering his girlfriend. Clearly there was no love lost there. Still, there had been something about the way that Becky had told her story that made Veronica feel like she was hiding something. Her mind wavered as she considered this, and the love Becky's brother still felt for his dead girlfriend.

_Veronica's heart sunk as she opened the front door to their house to find it in darkness. She flicked the light on and called out his name, sighing when she got no response. Logan had told her that he had to go out for a meeting with the child abuse charity that he was a spokesperson for and he wouldn't be back until late, but she didn't expect it to be this late. She had finished later at work that night, figuring that it was better to get ahead on her workload than to sit at home on her own, avoiding cooking like the plague. She dropped her bag down on the side table and dropped her keys into the bowl next to her bag. She walked into the lounge and pressed the television remote to get a bit of background noise while she wound down from work._

_Veronica walked slowly into the dining room intending to go into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. She was greeted by the sight of her boyfriend sitting at the table, surrounded by candlelight. She smiled as he stood up and gestured to the seat opposite to him. She walked to him and kissed him, slowly and gently. _

"_I missed you today," she said as she leaned into his embrace._

"_Missed you too," he said as they pulled apart and sat down_

"_I thought you were staying out late?"_

"_I wanted to have some time to get ready without my suspicious girlfriend suspecting anything," he winked, and she laughed at his intrinsic knowledge of her character._

"_Mission accomplished," she smiled as he stood up and grabbed a tray from the side. He served her meal, placing the plates with care. "You cooked for me?"_

"_Yes," he grinned._

_They ate together quietly talking about their days. When Veronica had finished eating Logan cleared away and bought out two plates, each one covered. _

"_Pick one," he said, nerves slightly evident in his voice._

"_A choice of deserts, you spoil me," she laughed at the nervous look on his face_

_She picked one and he pulled the top off with a flourish. Underneath was a small black ring box. Veronica's heart almost stopped. Logan put the two plates down at crouched down on one knee._

"_Veronica Mars, will you marry me?"_

Swiping tears from her eyes Veronica took out her phone and decided to make a call to the Baltimore police department, to see if it was worth travelling halfway across the country.

"Baltimore Police Department, how can I help you?" A chipper voice on the other end of the cell phone answered.

"This is Agent Mars from the Federal Investigation Bureau, I was wondering if I could speak with Detective Diana Ballard?" Veronica asked authoritatively.

"Of course Agent Mars, let me put you through," the woman said, rushing over her words in her haste to do what Veronica asked. A moment later a click sounded over the line, and harried female voice sounded.

"Detective Ballard,"

"Detective Ballard, I'm Agent Mars from the FBI. I'm doing some research for the Bureau on criminal psychology, focusing on the Winchester brothers for training in the Academy. I know that you arrested the two men, and that they managed to escape from your custody after the death of partner, Detective Sheridan. I was wondering if you could give me an assessment of the two men." Veronica pulled her notebook out of the bag and grabbed a pen, flipping to a fresh page.

"My report should have been in the FBI files on the Winchester brothers." The detective appeared reluctant to say anything further.

"I was asking for your own personal assessment, Detective, not what the report said about them." Veronica said, grinding her teeth together to prevent herself from making a snarky comment.

"Dean and Sam Winchester may have been criminals but they saved my life. That's all I need to know about them." The woman on the other end of the phone sounded sincere. Veronica raised her eyebrow, glad that the other woman couldn't see the incredulous expression on her face.

"Detective Ballard, if you could give me any more than that I would appreciate it," Veronica stated as she pulled a map out of the glove pocket of the car.

"I'm sorry Agent Mars I'm afraid I have to let you go, I have a suspect in holding now and it can't wait much longer." Veronica knew a brush off when she heard one, and idly wondered if this suspect existed, or whether they were a handy excuse.

"If you think of anything which could help with my paper, I would appreciate if you would call me," Veronica said, telling the detective her cell phone number, with no hope that it would ever call.

"It was nice to speak to you Agent Mars," Detective Ballard lied smoothly as she put the phone down. Veronica chuckled as she pulled the phone from her ear. Clearly there was more to the Winchester brothers than she first thought. She crossed Baltimore off the map, deciding that she had learnt all she could from the authorities there, and looked to her next stop. Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the Winchesters were involved in a series of thefts and suicides, culminating in the murder of several bank employees.

Veronica cursed as her car rattled to a stop. She was on her way back to Neptune, after travelling to Milwaukee, but nothing new had appeared there either. Veronica was planning on regrouping when she got home and planning her next steps. She was tired from days of driving and crappy motels, and wanted to see her Dad, and get some home cooked meals from Alicia.

Now she was stuck in the aptly named Welcome in Minnesota, until she was able to get her car fixed. She slammed her hands into the steering wheel, before taking a deep breath and grabbing her handbag. She had stopped just outside a gas station, and hoped that there was someone there who would be able to at least direct her to the nearest mechanic.

Chloe watched as the computer failed to put together any of Mia's symptoms into any meaningful order, or link them to any known disease. She had checked medical journals, hacked the Environment agency and any other database in the world which could hide any kind of research into any kind of condition related to Mia's symptoms, but nothing had appeared thus far. She set the computer to continue searching for the relevant information and started to consider where the illness could have come from. It was clearly linked to the man in the room, the one who had died having kissed Mia. Chloe wondered if there could be any kind of Meta relation, considering the man was caught in one of Lex's 33.1 labs. Chloe grabbed Oliver's glasses from the case in which he housed his Green Arrow gear and plugged them into the computer. It quickly uploaded the video files stored on the memory chip embedded in the glasses frames and began playing from the moment Oliver entered the 33.1 facility. Chloe skipped over the majority of the video, starting to play it when Oliver burst into the room with Mia. Chloe watched from Oliver's point of view as the man fell away from Mia, collapsing on the floor. The video moved in closer to the man and Chloe was able to pause it with a perfect shot of the man's open eyed dead stare. She took a still image, and loaded it into the face recognition software that she and Victor had created, which pulled images from every database, website and security camera feed in the world. She watched as green lines flashed across the screen, analysing facial features, eye colour, skin tone and hair colour.

A few websites and database entries appeared on the screen. All of them featured the same man as was in the still image Chloe had entered. Johnson Fredern was 34 from Arkansas. He had been married twice, divorced once. No children. Reported missing on 16th January 2008 by his wife. Posters and appeals had been put up; a facebook page had even been created looking for any information as to his whereabouts. Nothing Chloe looked through suggested that the man had any kind of Meta or meteor rock related power, and there had been no progress made on the investigation into his disappearance. No sightings, no information from friends, no kind of a struggle in the apartment where he was last seen. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.

Sensing that this was another dead end Chloe sat back and closer her eyes. Mia had steadily been getting worse over the last couple of days, forgetting large chunks of memories. The whole team were working on it, each using their skills to try and figure out what was wrong with their youngest teammate, and Chloe couldn't help but feel that she was letting them all down. Suddenly inspiration hit her as she remembered that she had another source of information, other than the dead man and Mia's symptoms. She had stills from Mia's glasses of the room that the man had been in. Maybe the symbols in there would be able to give her a clue as to what they were dealing with. She took a still of the room and placed in into the image recognition software.

Chloe was not prepared for the results of the search. Page after page appeared talking about how to contain supernatural beings, about hunters of the supernatural, demonic possession and exorcisms. She furrowed her brow and looked through the pages. Surely these had to be jokes. If real supernatural creatures existed why hadn't the JLA come across them before? One page stood out. It spoke about Enochian sigils as the only way to contain a major level demon, and included a drawing which matched the picture Chloe searched exactly.

Meta's, meteor freaks, even aliens from another planet were things Chloe was able to stomach with ease. Why should the supernatural be any different?

Taking a deep breath, trying to get a handle on everything, Chloe closed all the browsers down and opened up a single internet webpage. She did a complex search linking all of the keywords relating to Mia's condition, in addition to Enochian sigils and demonic possession.

The webpage claimed that no results had been found anywhere. Chloe pursed her lips. She had seen on some of the websites hints that there was a website, or message board for hunters of the supernatural, and she was sure that she would be able to find her answers there. She went back to the website which had mentioned the sigils and hacked into the website itself, finding a backdoor into the message board which could only be found if different pages were accessed in a certain order, and then a password entered.

The message board contained information about the best ways to kill werewolves, on vampire nesting habits, and a whole sub board dedicated to demonic possession. This was clearly the place Chloe was looking for.

She quickly created a fake profile, originating from several different IP addresses across the globe and typed in a single message which would appear on all computers of whoever was online at that time.

_I work for an organisation which does much the same work as you appear to and am in need of help, and it appears to be in your area of expertise. A friend of mine is suffering from memory loss, headaches and sulphur has been found in her skin, blood and major organs after freeing a man who was stuck in a room of Enochian symbols. Someone please respond._

Immediately someone created a thread on the message board and typed in a post.

_Greg201: This is a secure webpage for hunters. How the hell did a rookie get onto the page?_

Chloe resisted the urge to type in an angry message about her credentials as a purveyor of the strange and unexplained, and instead settled for snorting at the arrogance of this 'hunter.'

_WatchTower: This is not my area of expertise, but this isn't my first rodeo. I could really use some advice_

A new person posted a few minutes after Chloe's message.

_JH67: Come to Harvelle's roadhouse in Nebraska. Someone there will be able to help you with your problem_

_JH67: Don't worry. There are people who can deal with this._

_Greg201: And take that header off of the damn website. We get your message_

Chloe took a deep breath and pressed a button on her earpiece.

"Chloe, what have you got for me?" Oliver asked as he responded immediately.

"I may have found some people who can help. Can I have the jet?"

"Chloe, the QI jet is in England at the moment, taking members of the board to a conference about carbon emissions, and yes, I understand the irony of travelling god knows how many miles in a private plane to discuss carbon emissions. It won't be back for a few days, and Bart is tracking down some leads in Europe for Emil" Oliver said apologetically. "Use the JLA card and book yourself on the next flight to wherever you need to go. Who are these people?"

"I don't know, but if they can help Mia then I have to try. I guess I'm going to Nebraska."

Veronica walked quickly through the dark street, cursing her bad luck as she went. While there was a mechanic in town who was able to get a look at Veronica's car, the parts that she needed wouldn't arrive until the next day, meaning that she had to stay in a motel for the night. The mechanic, a friendly older guy, had recommended a motel/restaurant in the middle of town, and Veronica had sensibly decided to take the alleyway rather than taking the long loop around the houses. As she walked she forced herself to take deep breaths, trying to reconcile herself to the situation, which was unfortunately beyond her control. As she did so she knocked into another person. She looked up, apologising for her clumsiness and tried to step to the side and out of the way. The man was middling height, and looked about middle aged, with a little paunch showing noticeably through his coat. He grinned down as he took a step in the same direction. Veronica moved to the other side, and he did the same. With a detached eye Veronica noted that his teeth were stained yellow and that he had pock marks all across his face.

"Hello sweetheart," Veronica could have rolled her eyes at the remark. She took a step away from him and glared.

"How very clichéd," Veronica sighed as she began walking backwards slowly.

"Now, love, don't be like that," he growled as he moved closer.

"First, of all, you're old enough to be my father. Second of all I wouldn't touch you if David Cameron promised to make me a Baroness afterwards," Veronica said, her tone snarky as she pulled her gun out of her bag. She trained it on the guy with a steady grip, encouraging him to walk away. He started to laugh, as he gripped hold of her one shoulder and pulled her closer into him, licking her cheek.

"Bullets won't hurt me love," he whispered lowly into her ear as he backhanded her with his free hand, pushing her against the wall.

"You better hope so," Veronica snarled as she pulled the trigger, the gun pointed straight at his knee cap.

"Well that stung," he hissed before he raised his hand and knocked her head against the wall, knocking Veronica out.

Veronica was woken up by the sound of arguing coming from two male voices. She kept her eyes closed, and listened as she serendipitously tried to feel her surroundings. Her back was against a wall, as if she had been thrown carelessly into the corner. Her head throbbed from where he had hit her, and her shoulder and hip had fared no better in the fall. Her hands were tied together with a piece of worn old rope, and she was pretty sure she could smell oil and gasoline. A shout roused her from her thoughts.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing, bringing a stranger in here?" It wasn't a voice that Veronica recognised, though she could clearly hear the anger in the voice. It was male and originated from the same room Veronica was in, though a fair distance away.

"I was hungry! I bought her home to share." There was a defensive edge to the voice of the man who had knocked her out. Veronica felt both anger and fear course through her. What did he mean by being hungry? Were these men... cannibals? Or was he referring to a more sinister appetite. Either way Veronica was angry simultaneously at herself for letting herself get into the situation, and at the men for choosing her to victimise.

"We are trying to keep a low profile. Means prostitutes and runaways, not FBI agents!" Veronica was shocked by this revelation. She shifted slightly, and noticed that her FBI wallet wasn't digging into her leg where it had previously been in her pocket. Similarly she could not feel her phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Fat lot of prostitutes in this small town." The man was clearly disgruntled at this idea. Veronica cautiously moved her hands closer together to try and gage how much give there was in the ropes. They were fairly loose around her small wrists, and agonisingly slowly she was able to move her hands, twisting them to pull the one hand out of the loop. She did nothing else, keeping her eyes closed.

"So we made a mistake. We were goin' to leave town tonight! Now what the fuck are we meant to do?"

"Eat her and burn the body. There'll be a search, and people will assume she walked off, forgetting her car, or she got a ride from a friend." Veronica fought the urge to be sick. They really were cannibals. How bizarre in a totally disgusting way.

"You are a fucking moron, you know that don't ya! Fuckin FBI look after their own!"

"You got a better plan smartass? After I go to all the trouble getting her. She bloody blew my kneecap off with that piece of shit!"

"You deserved it you fucking prick!" The voices got louder, and Veronica slowly cautiously opened one eye.

Both of the men had their backs to Veronica, a small favour she was grateful for. She could see that she was in a small warehouse which was for the most part empty. She could see her bag and her gun discarded on the floor too far from Veronica to help in any realistic way. Though, Veronica did recognise that her gun had been next to no help earlier in the evening, and that there was little chance that it would make a difference against the two men. She looked cautiously over at her captor. He did not seem to be favouring his one leg, although there was blood spattered along his one trouser leg.

The one man Veronica didn't recognise suddenly twisted around, hissing. She inhaled sharply as she saw a second set of teeth; each one serrated and sharp appeared in his mouth on top of his original set. He smiled, sinisterly.

"Well I guess this solves the problem. We'll just have to enjoy our meal brother," he said as he and the other man began to advance on Veronica. She watched terrified as a second set of teeth appeared in her captor's mouth. Abandoning all pretences of still being asleep or tied up, Veronica scrambled to her feet, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head. She backed away from the men.

A gunshot pierced the air and Veronica watched, startled as the one man's head appeared to explode. The body fell backwards onto the floor and lay still, while the other man twisted around agilely, his face contorted with anger. At the entrance of the warehouse stood an older middle aged man wearing a brown jacket and a plaid shirt. His hair was greying and cropped closely to his head and in his hands he carried a long shotgun. On his hip hung what appeared to be a scimitar.

"You bastard!" Veronica's remaining captor snarled as he jumped across the distance to the newcomer. Veronica watched as he covered the whole distance between her and the dead body and the newcomer in one leap. The newcomer fired off one shotgun round, then threw the empty gun into the man's face. He leant back and pulled the scimitar from the makeshift scabbard on his belt and expertly slashed it at the chest of the man. The man snarled and attempted to grab at the new man's head, intending to sink his teeth into the tender flash of his neck. The new man leant back and coolly cut the grabbing hands from the body of the snarling thing. Veronica gasped as he raised the scimitar and slashed at the neck of the thing. Everything appeared to move slowly as the head dropped from the shoulders and thudded on the ground.

"What... what was that?" Veronica spluttered with shock. She had dealt with a lot of things, but this whole situation conflicted with Veronica's normally very organised mind. She had thought she had seen the depths of human depravity, but apparently she was wrong. Unless, a little voice in the back of her head whispered, what if they weren't entirely human?

**I'd love to hear what you think, leave me a review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"You alright?" The man asked gruffly as he picked up his gun and walked slowly over to Veronica. She nodded, her movement very staccato. She rushed across to her gun and bag suddenly and lifted her shaking hands to direct it at the man. "Calm down doll."

"I just saw you decapitate one man, and shoot the head off another. I think I'm happier with this gun up facing you," Veronica said taking a deep breath in, trying to compose herself.

"I'm not gonna hurt you girl," he growled as he took a knife out, which appeared to be covered in blood, and took it over to the man whose head had been shot off, and thrust it very quickly into the dead body. Satisfied, the older man put all his weapons away and held his hands up to Veronica.

"Who are you?" she asked, refusing to lower the gun.

"Roger. I'm a hunter."

"What were those things?" She said shakily.

"Vampires." One word. Matter of fact. And it turned Veronica's world upside down.

"Vampires." Veronica snorted. "And I guess Buffy was unavailable?"

"You got any other explanation for the damn bloodsucker's girly, 'cause I'd love to hear it! Hate to break it to you, but the things that go bump in the night, they exist alright!" The man was blunt, and Veronica appreciated it. She lowered the gun suddenly, exhausted. If the man wanted to hurt her, she doubted her gun would stop him anyhow. She let out a strangled laugh, and picked up her bag, and the discarded FBI badge and phone. She slowly made her way to the door, Roger falling into step beside her.

"How did you get involved in all this?" Veronica asked, curious as they left the building. In front was a large four by four parked to block the doorway. She assumed that this was Roger's car.

"My wife was killed by a werewolf. Seeing her mangled body clued me in pretty quick. I've been trying to catch up with this nest of vampires for weeks, since they killed four prostitutes in a town west of here." He hauled open the trunk of his car and pressed button releasing the hidden floor. He pulled it up, and Veronica saw symbols etched into the underside of the fake trunk.

Veronica stared at the symbols etched into the trunk of Roger's car, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She reached slowly into her bag and pulled out a file of photographs.

"Can you take a look at couple of photos for me?"

The old cantankerous hunter grunted, which Veronica took to be in agreement, and handed the file to him.

"Do you recognise any of the markings on the body?"

"I've never seen symbols like this before, but I'd take a bet and say that it's old Enochian."

"Enochian?" Veronica asked. It wasn't a language she had ever heard of before. The old man nodded.

"Language of the angels." Veronica lifted an eyebrow. She had accepted the vampires, after she had seen them with her own eyes, but angels? Really?

"Right. Angels." Sarcasm filled her voice.

"Don't take that tone with me girl. If I say angels exist then you bet your ass they exist." Roger snarled as he pushed the trunk closed and walked around his car.

"How the hell do I get hold of an angel?" Scepticism still coloured her voice.

"Your best bet would be to find one of the Winchester brothers. Word is they know some angels who can translate the symbols."

"And where can I find a Winchester brother?"

"Harvelle's roadhouse in Nebraska. Tell Ellen that Roger sent you; She'll tell you where to find one of them. Now, do you need a ride any where?" Veronica nodded mechanically and walked around to the passenger side door.

It seemed that what had begun as project to distract her from Logan was inexplicably linked to his death. Finding Dean Winchester had become personal now.

Chloe looked at the Harvelle roadhouse with some trepidation. It had clearly been rebuilt at some point, but had retained a sense of being part of the landscape. It was meant to be there, on the roadside of central Nebraska, waiting for weary travellers. Yet Chloe was sure that the majority of people who would travel this road would instinctively avoid it, waiting for the next trucker stop to go to the toilet and grab some food. And those brave souls who did choose to enter the roadhouse would undoubtedly receive a frosty welcome. All Chloe had been able to find on the internet about this place was its location and a brief insert in a website about the best places to stop on a long journey. The review had not been glowing to say the least:

_Harvelle's may seem like a blessing on a long journey, especially when you are lost, as I and my wife were on a cross country journey. However, the bar staff are terse at best, and downright rude at worst. The regular clientele are few and far between, but seemed strange and overly hostile. Even a request to use the bathroom was met with disdain. If I were anyone else, I would miss Harvelle's and travel on to the next trucker stop. At least there you might get a semi decent cup of coffee and a smile._

The review didn't leave Chloe with much hope. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, walking forward before she could convince herself out of going. _This is for Mia_ she reminded herself as she pushed through the door. Ignoring all of the other clientele, Chloe walked straight to the bar and looked at the middle aged woman who stood behind it, looking her up and down slowly.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked, her frown fixed on her face as she leant forward onto the bar.

"I got a recommendation to come here for some supernatural help," Chloe said as she put her folder of papers onto the bar and sat on a stool. The woman scrutinised her for a second.

"You hack the hunter's journal?" She asked neutrally as she started to wipe down the bar, avoiding the files.

"Yeah. I would apologise, but hey," Chloe shrugged. "Desperate times and all."

The woman let out a laugh, shaking her head.

"I'm impressed. Ash said that thing was darn near impossible to hack. So who are you?"

"I'm Chloe."

"Alright Chloe, I'm Ellen. Follow me, and we'll see if Sammy can help you. He's probably your best bet."

Chloe nodded and walked through the door on the wall that Ellen indicated. She followed the older woman down the hall, past several offices and rooms.

"Call Dean, Sam. If you don't I will!" The tall blonde shouted as she swung angrily through the door.

"Stay out of it Jo!" an angry voice shouted back as the door swung back and forth. The blonde, presumably Jo, snarled as her face tightened. She looked at Chloe, glancing up and down at the new girl before turning to Ellen.

"Maybe you'll have better luck with him. He could do with a kick up the ass," Jo said as she walked behind the bar. Ellen chuckled appreciatively for a moment, before opening the door Jo had just left.

"C'mon, Sammy is your best bet after all," she said to Chloe's raised eyebrow. "He's a teddy bear really."

Ellen pushed her way through the door and after a short time of deliberation Chloe did the same. The scene she met was not unsurprising. She did, after all, work with a team of men, who while they might be superheroes, were hardly the most organised type. She stood at the doorway of a small sitting room slash office which had a sofa pulled out into a bed. The whole room was cluttered with food wrappers, notebooks, large tomes and scraps of paper with writing all over them. At the far edge of the room sat a man with his back to the doorway, hunched over a desk writing. He didn't turn when they entered.

"Sammy," Ellen said as she walked into the room. She seemed almost cautious, which appeared at odds with what Chloe had seen of her previously. "You know that case I told you about? Well there's someone here to talk to you about it."

As Ellen spoke, 'Sammy' turned in his chair to survey the interlopers. Chloe could see that he was not best pleased at the interruption. She was slightly taken aback by the expression on his admittedly handsome face, though she tried not to show it. Sammy was clearly very tall, and well built, with strong shoulders and a broad chest which his loose shirt did nothing to conceal. His hair was long, reaching halfway down his neck, framing his face and he gave off the impression of being a nice person who had been beaten down by the world.

"What do you want," he said rather rudely as he took Chloe in. She lifted an eyebrow at his uncouth behaviour but said nothing. Ellen, however, clearly took offense to the man's manners.

"Now Sam Winchester, just because you're moping in this room, don't mean you get to treat strangers like that. Now apologise," she said firmly as she threw her towel at him. He easily caught it with one hand, and Chloe could see the hints of a smile appearing on his lips. Clearly Ellen played the mama bear card pretty often with him.

"I'm sorry," Sam said as he stood up and walked across the room. Chloe was struck by how much taller than her he was. He could give Clark a run for his money in the height department, and that was a little unnerving, considering Clark's status as Superman.

"You better be sorry boy!" Ellen said. "You two talk. I got customers to deal with."

With that Ellen left the room, leaving Chloe and Sam staring at one another inquisitively. Neither moved for several moments.

"Do you want to sit down?" Sam asked suddenly. "Tell me why Ellen seems to think that I can help you with your problem."

Chloe nodded her assent, and moved to sit on a chair by the desk, the other one which Sam had not previously occupied.

"You already know my name from Ellen, but I'm Sam. Who are you?" Sam asked gently as he none too subtly moved several papers from the desk and closed one of the books.

"Did you see my message board post?" Chloe asked, trying to ascertain what Sam knew previously.

"Ellen showed me it. You said that it was about a friend who had very unusual symptoms, including sulphur found in parts of her body, right?" Chloe nodded and Sam continued his gentle questioning. Chloe wondered idly if this was because he thought that she would break down crying or because of her relative newness to the situation and the supernatural world. "Is your friend exhibiting unusual behaviour?"

"Unusual how," Chloe asked, confused slightly by the question.

"While no one has ever been able to get near enough to a demon possessed person in order to check, I hypothesise that due to the unique makeup of the demon the human host body would become saturated with sulphur. That being said, most possessed people don't act like their normal selves, as the demon takes control of the body," Sam explained. Chloe took it all in calmly, and went over the behaviour that Mia had exhibited in the time that Chloe had seen her since the incident at the 33.1 lab.

"No, she has just appeared to be unwell. She is memory loss for long stretches of time." Sam looked unduly interested in that thought.

"She may be possessed by a demon, but still be in control of her body. Demons normally take control completely, so this one must have a reason to be letting her take the reins. Maybe to survey the situation around them, and get to grips with the new body. The periods of time which she cannot remember may be when the demon is taking control." Sam grabbed a leather bound book from the desk in front of him and began to flip through it. As he did so he asked, almost negligently:

"What's your friend's name?"

"Mia." Chloe replied quietly.

"What happened just before Mia started exhibiting this sort of behaviour?" Sam continued to look through the book intently.

"There was a man trapped in a room full of what I assume to be Enochian sigils. I have a picture of the room in my file." Chloe pulled the file of papers from where she had returned them to her bag, and opened it. She flipped a few pages forward and took a photograph out. She wordlessly handed it to Sam.

"I know that can all seem so surreal and hard to understand..." he started. Chloe gave out a sharp laugh.

"Believe me Sam; I've been dealing with crap on this level since I was in high school. The supernatural is just another step along the crazy road," She said in a cynical tone which belied her 23 years of age. At that moment Chloe Sullivan sounded like she was 40 years old.

"How did you get involved in this?" Sam asked as he studied the photograph.

"Have you heard of meta humans?" Chloe asked. At Sam's assenting nod she continued. "I work for an organisation made up of Meta humans who help to track down and stop Meta's who have gone rogue, or people beyond the police's normal jurisdiction."

"You mean you work with superheroes?" Sam asked curiously as he looked at Chloe for the first time after she had handed him the photograph.

"Yes," She said simply, thinking about her boys who were at home all frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with Mia. Sam frowned, caught in thought.

"Why are you so concerned?" Chloe asked, slightly worried.

"If this is a possession, and the demon works out that the people around him have particular skills then we could all be in trouble. I'd hate to see a demon with super speed, or super strength for that matter, on top of the powers they have naturally. I have some anti possession amulets which we have to make sure to get to your whole team."

"Not a nice thought." Chloe shuddered.

"Okay, I need to see your friend to be sure. If she is possessed we need to perform an exorcism." Sam's tone was grim, but Chloe felt a surge of hope arise in her.

"You'll help?"

"Yes, I'll help."

Veronica walked purposefully across to the door of the 'Harvelle Roadhouse', twisting to the side as a petite blonde woman and a tall brunette man walked out of the doorway. The man nodded to her and the woman murmured a quiet thank you as they continued past. Veronica scrunched her face up as she tried to remember where she recognised the woman from, but paused when she realised that she definitely knew the man. The picture she had studied for hours had been a few years old, the hair had grown longer and he had bulked out, but it was definitely the same man. Sam Winchester. She spun away to see them race out of the parking lot, before she could get any number plates, or even the make and model of the car. She cursed under her breath, angry at herself for missing out on such a big lead. The only thing she could do was follow the lead the angry old hunter had given her. She walked into the roadhouse.

Suspicious faces turned to the door as she pushed her way through. Several men were polishing firearms, and looked like they knew how to use them. Veronica walked through the room towards the bar, making sure to move fairly slowly and cautiously. These people were wired, and it didn't seem like too much would set them off.

"Two new customers in the same day," A pretty blonde girl commented as she threw a towel down on the counter of the bar. Veronica felt a pang of grief as she looked the girl straight in the face. She looked like a harder version of Meg Manning, a girl who had died when Veronica was a senior in high school.

"Well Roger pointed me in this direction. Said I might find information about Dean Winchester here if I asked." Veronica said neutrally as she slid onto a barstool. "I'll have whatever beer you have."

"What's a girl like you got to do with Roger?" the girl said as she pulled out a beer and pulled off the bottle top. She handed it to Veronica. Veronica took a quick drink, appreciating the cold beer as it slid down her throat. She had come to like beer a couple of years into her relationship with Logan, after realising that it was the beverage most likely to be in the house consistently.

"He saved my ass from a nest of vampires. When he found out I was looking for Winchester he pointed me in this direction, very reluctantly," Veronica commented, and took a long drink from the beer. She noted that less faces in the bar were turned towards her and the other girl. The men had clearly gone back to their own business, whatever that was.

"What do you want with Dean?" A protective edge entered the girl's voice. Veronica idly wondered if this was an ex girlfriend, or fling.

"My husband was a hunter. He said if there was any trouble after he died I should get in touch with one of the Winchester brothers and that they were some of the best hunter's he'd heard of in his time hunting." Veronica felt a pang of guilt as she used Logan's death to get what she wanted. She didn't let it show on her face and suppressed the emotion. She was using his death in order to solve it, she told herself.

"Who was your husband?" Clearly this Meg lookalike was inquisitive, and bluntly so. She made no apologies for it.

"Logan Fennell." The name Echolls, was simply too damn familiar to the world unfortunately, and the fact that he had taken her name after their wedding had not been overlooked by the media. Veronica thought that it would be best to avoid any kind of recognition from the other woman which could blow her story to smithereens.

"How'd he die?" Simple question, no treading on glass, no cautious glances. This was a girl who had seen death, and treated it as an everyday thing.

"I'll let you know when I find out." Veronica took another long drink

"Dean's in Virginia looking at some murder's which look ritualistic. One of the guys killed was the son of a couple of movie stars, so it hasn't been easy for him to look into it. If you're desperate to talk to him, then you could head out there and see if he can look at your case." The girl said suddenly.

"How can I get in touch with him?" Veronica asked, not wanting to push her luck. Clearly she had scars which the other girl interpreted as the scars of a hunter's wife. She supposed the scars of her youth and time at the FBI could be interpreted in such a way.

"Lemme give him a call; let him know you're on your way."

"Why are you helping me?" Veronica couldn't help but ask. In her experience people were rarely altruistic. She said as much. The girl laughed a bitter sound which didn't seem like it should be coming from someone her age.

"Hunting is different. We don't do the job for perks; we do it to help others. Besides, when you hunt you learn to read people. You look like you've dealt with plenty of shit. If you need help, better be the best, 'cause it seems to me that its big." She went back to wiping down the bar almost absentmindedly.

"Thanks," Veronica said, pausing as she realised she didn't know what the girl's name was.

"It's Jo,"

"I'm Veronica."

"So, why did you agree to come with me Sam?" Chloe asked as she drove down the road,

"Needed to get away from the roadhouse. Ellen and Jo were driving me nuts, trying to convince me to call Dean." He said, his face showing clearly that he was brooding about something. Chloe almost laughed. It seemed that in all walks of the so called superhero biz there were those who knew how to brood, and did it with almost alarming frequency. Chloe was willing to bet that Sam could give both Clark and Oliver a run for their money. Chloe noted in abstract that since she had met him Sam Winchester had not smiled once.

"Who's Dean?"

"My brother"

"Why do you need to call him?"

"Cause he thinks I'm dead."

They rode in silence for an indeterminate length of time.

"You said earlier that you work with a group of people with powers. Do you have powers yourself?" Sam asked as he turned to Chloe.

Chloe was silent for a moment.

"I used to." She said, trying to stop the conversation at that point. Ignoring her tone of voice, Sam continued to question her.

"What happened?"

"An alien super computer took over my brain and my powers were depleted fighting it off. I haven't been able to heal anyone since."

"You could heal?" Sam sounded surprised. Chloe supposed that out of all of the Meta powers people could get, healing wasn't really something which Meta's would advertise. Normal people wouldn't necessarily expect healing to be a Meta power, although Chloe didn't really count Sam Winchester as normal. There was something about him that reminded her of her superheroes back home.

"Emphatic healing. I took on the injuries of someone and healed myself. Now I only seem to recover from injuries quickly."

They drove in companionable silence for a while, until it was shattered by the ringing of Chloe's phone. She slipped an earpiece in and then accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"Chloe, tell me you have something," Oliver's frantic voice sounded in her ear.

"Ollie, calm down, what's wrong?" Chloe asked, worried by the fear in her usually calm teammates voice.

"Mia really isn't doing well. Emil says things aren't looking good for her."

"I'm on my way back to Watchtower now, with someone who I think might be able to help," Chloe said, glancing to Sam who was doing his best to appear that he wasn't listening in on the conversation.

"Are you still in Nebraska?"

"Yes, Oliver, we're on our way to the airport at the moment," Sam looked startled by this revelation.

"I'm sending the jet over. It just got back from England," Oliver said, distractedly.

"Okay, Ollie, We'll be there soon." Chloe hung up.

"I can't go by plane Chloe, I don't have a passport," Sam said as they continued driving.

"That shouldn't be a problem. One of my teammates is sending a private plane." Sam looked startled by this revelation, then chuckled.

"Your team is a lot bigger and better equipped than I first imagined." Chloe laughed at the slight hint of awe in his voice.

**A/N: I'd love to know what you think, leave a review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to the people who are reading this, and those who have reviewed**

Chapter Four

Veronica sat down on the familiar couch and took a deep breath. This was the first time that she had been back in the home that she and Logan had shared throughout the course of their married life since his murder. Before her road trip, she had stayed in motel rooms, trying to avoid the memories her house struck in her.

"_Logan let go!" Veronica shrieked as the man in question threw her over his shoulder, carrying her through the house as though she weighed nothing._

"_Not going to happen Ronnie," he smirked as he carried her out of the backdoor towards the pool. It was the first really hot day of the summer and Veronica had mistakenly told Logan that she was too hot to do anything. "You wanted to cool down after all."_

"_Logan the pool hasn't been treated yet this summer!" she laughed as he tickled her sides._

"_Guess, we'll have to take the risk then!" He grinned as he slipped her from his shoulder into his arms, bridal style. She looked up at his mischievous face._

"_Logan no!" she screamed as he started to run towards the pool. He took a leap into the air and sent the two of them crashing into the deep water at the end of the pool, submerging them both. Veronica emerged from the water, spluttering as her lightweight clothes dragged in the water._

"_I'm going to kill you Logan Mars!" she screamed as she lunged towards him. He laughed, and took off down the pool._

Veronica took another deep shuddering breath, and pushed back the tears which were threatening to spill from her eyes. She remembered clearly the day that Logan had told her he was going to take her name.

"_Echolls is a name which I don't want to be associated with. I'd rather your name any day of the week," he smiled softly as he took her hand. "I'd be delighted to be Mr. Veronica Mars. The name does have a certain ring to it after all!"_

Knocking at the door roused Veronica from the memory she was immersed in. She got up slowly and went to answer. At the door was a tall man, wearing a black suit and blue tie. His hair was blonde and was cut short against his head. He smiled impishly at her, as she scrutinised him suspiciously. How had Dean Winchester found her so quickly after she had got home from Harvelle's? She had only given Jo her first name, and had planned on calling the hunter after having a few days to relax. The time on the road hard worn Veronica thin, and she needed some time to pull together everything she had learnt.

"Agent Plant from the FBI, can I talk to you for a moment Mrs Mars?" The man at the door smiled winningly, and went to flash a badge in her face. Veronica snatched it from his hand and investigated it thoroughly, almost laughing at the choice of name. She realised then that he was there to investigate what had happened with her husband. Oh the irony of it all.

"Funny, I don't recall a Robert Plant stationed in DC, and I think I would recall who had replaced me on this case, Of course, you've obviously come a long way from your Led Zeppelin days, I'd say. Looking good for your age though." Veronica saw the man's face fall, caution replacing the easygoing expression he previously sported.

"I'm FBI you fool. Agent Mars. You should really do research before you go barrelling in to interview someone." She snarked as she cocked an eyebrow at his foolish mistake and stepped back away from the door.

"I thought you were a stay at home wife. Couldn't find any record of employment." Dean said defensibly, clearly annoyed at Veronica's reaction. He clearly expected a teary wife mourning her husband in the most obvious way possible.

"Alright, Inspector Clouseau. Come on in," Veronica said as she indicated the entrance way to her home. He walked in slowly, and she closed the door behind him. Veronica and Dean looked at each other for one long moment. Veronica wondered idly how he had known that she was back in DC when she had only arrived back in town the night before. She had spent the night at Harvelle's at Jo's insistence when she had discovered Veronica's intention to drive until she got home. Veronica had set off early in the morning after a quick cup of coffee and a bagel, driving until she got home. She had collapsed into her bed late that night, trying desperately to ignore the scent of Logan which still managed to pervade the house even weeks after his death.

"How did you know that I was home?" Veronica asked Dean as they stood in the foyer of her house. He continued to look her up and down for a few moments before answering.

"Since I started to look into this case I've been coming by the house every couple of days. Just happened by today and saw the car." He looked suspiciously at her. "How come you knew who I was?"

"Jo didn't call you?"

"Jo said a Veronica Fennel was lookin' for me. Not Veronica Mars. Threw me a little darlin'" his eyes pierced her, accusing her of misleading someone who was clearly important to him.

"Like you haven't used a fake name, Mr Plant," she said pointedly. A roguish smile appeared on his face.

"Wouldn't have figured a girl like you to be into Zeppelin,"

"My husband loved classic rock" and there they were back to the original topic.

"Gotta be honest darlin' you don't look old enough to be married"

"I'm twenty five," Veronica said shortly. Dean laughed.

"See when I first saw you I had you pegged for jail bait."

"You are not very good at this interrogation stuff you know. You've gone completely off topic." Dean looked a little off putted by her forthrightedness. Then he grinned again.

"You think that I might've been trying to gain your trust?"

"Good luck with that one bud," Veronica said darkly _Even I know that I have trust_ _issues_ she thought darkly.

"So you wanna tell me why you went to Nebraska to find little ole me, Agent Mars," Dean asked

"Well, the FBI does have interests in wanted fugitives, specifically ones which are meant to be dead" she said darkly.

"Are you threatening me?" Dean suddenly went serious, his flirtatious demeanour dropped in an instant. He was suddenly serious. Veronica understood in that instant why Agent Hendrickson was so desperate to catch the Winchester brothers. Dean Winchester was inherently dangerous.

"No, I'm not. Let's just stop playing games and lay all of our cards on the table," she suggested as she indicated the door to the dining room. Dean walked through and took a seat opposite her, scrutinising Veronica as he did so. She grabbed her file out of her bag, with all of the information about Dean and Sam.

"I just have to get another file," she said as she walked towards her study at the back of the house.

"How do I know that you aren't just calling your buddies at the FBI," Dean asked suspicious once more.

"I guess you'll just have to trust me," Veronica said tiredly as she exited the room.

Chloe and Sam stepped off the Queen Industries jet in Metropolis International Airport. Chloe was once more grateful for the resources that Oliver bought to their team. Her face furrowed as she noted that Oliver was waiting on the runway, walking quickly over to where they were unloading. He was frowning and worry marred his usually handsome face. Chloe sped her walk to meet him halfway across the asphalt. Oliver opened his arms to her, and Chloe went unhesitatingly to him.

She had missed her best friend during the course of her investigation into Mia's condition. Normally he would be her partner during this sort of mission, playing the Bond to her Q. She breathed in deeply the characteristic smell of Oliver.

"I've missed you Chlo," Oliver said into her ear as he held her close to him. "The team was a mess while you were away."

Chloe pulled back to look at his face, startled by the fear in his voice. She noted out of the corner of her eye Sam standing awkwardly a small distance away from them.

"Oliver, what's happened?" Chloe asked.

"Mia's gone missing. Bart said that she was acting strangely when he was watching her, that she had taken on a completely new personality and that she just disappeared," Oliver explained.

"Possession," Sam said calmly. The two vigilantes looked at him. "She's been possessed by a demon. We need to find her and I can exorcise it."

"Bart, Victor and AC are looking for her now. Even Clark is on the lookout, as are all of the other team members in all our other locations. But Chlo, who the hell is this?" Chloe took a step back from Oliver and motioned to Sam.

"Ollie this is Sam. He has a lot of experience with this sort of issue." Sam looked startled to be introduced and turned towards them reluctantly. Oliver looked him up and down and silence pervaded the area for a few moments. Finally Oliver spoke.

"I hope you know what you are doing," he said critically. "No offense, but you look like you just finished college, not like a demon hunter."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Sam said mildly. Chloe saw a dark glint in his eye and for the first time wondered what had happened to harden Sam so much.

Veronica and Dean both sat at the table, with all of the information they had both gathered over the course of their investigations. Each had their respective information in front of themselves, looking at the other, still cautious.

"Oh this is ridiculous," Veronica huffed, and chucked her files across to Dean. He caught them dexterously, and started to grin at her outburst. He passed her his journal, flipped open to the page that he had written all the information about the murders. Veronica looked at the page, before looking up.

"Let's just go over what we both know," Dean said, leaning back in his chair, indicating for her to speak first.

"So far 8 people have been murdered, all from different states, different backgrounds, in the same way. Each died from blood loss after having similar symbols..."

"Enochian, but its perverted, or corrupted," Dean interrupted, and Veronica looked at him pointedly. He grinned and gestured for her to continue.

"Perverted Enochian symbols carved into their bodies. No traces of an attacked have been found at the murder sites," Dean raised his hand and waved at her like a desperate school child. Veronica looked slightly exasperated. "Yes Dean."

"Traces of sulphur were also around each of the sites which I have been able to visit," He lowered his hand and grinned slightly at her. Veronica took a deep breath and continued.

"The only similarities there were between victims is that each are men and have significant positions of prominence within America, except possibly victim 7," She said with considerable difficulty. "While Logan was well known he did not have the same influence as the others."

"He was a contributor to a lot of charities, wasn't he? And he knew a lot of contributors." Dean offered as a connection.

"Okay, so the majority had political influence. When I was heading the case for the FBI I had a lot of difficulties getting access to the bodies of the dead, and more than one went missing during the course of the investigation. Only two remain in the central FBI morgue at this point,"

"Which bodies went missing?" Dean asked, curious. "I've only been on this case since victim 6, cause I saw a news report and recognised the symbols, and because of the involvement of the Fed's it's been difficult getting any kind of access to the bodies."

"I don't even want to know how you would normally get access to the bodies of the deceased," Veronica commented as she pulled out several pieces of paper, each with a shot of the victims before death, and some of the crime scene photographs while the bodies were present. She stood up and blue tacked the first piece to her wall.

"Victim 1: Gordon Yaxley. 27. Sherriff in Delaware Ohio." After mentioning each victim she tacked up the paper including their photographs.

"Victim 2: Fredrick Goyle. 30. DA in Chicago."

"Victim 3: Darren Dohring. 23. Intern in the Governor of California's office."

"Victim 4: Oliver Wood. 19. Prominent NFL player. His body is still in the FBI morgue, or was when I was last there."

"Victim 5: David Thorman. 24. Son of Billionaire Graeme Thorman, heavily involved in his father's company."

"Victim 6: Jacob Keynes. 45. Minority member of the United states Senate."

"Victim 7: Logan Mars. 25. Charitable contributor and son of film stars." Veronica managed to say through the lump in her throat. She didn't need to look at the photos. She knew his face intimately, and could not scrub the image of his dead body from her head. She tacked up the last piece of paper.

"And finally victim 8: Christopher Norris. 36. Works in the office of a representative in the Mississippi House of Representatives. The second body which remains in the morgue."

Dean stood up to look at all of the pictures closely.

"It's been more difficult to get access to these sorts of things since the FBI is actively involved and I don't have a partner to help with distractions." Dean commented as he scrutinised the pictures in depth. Veronica looked at his journal for a few moments, before something occurred to her.

"Why aren't you working with Sam anymore?" she asked idly as she continued to look through his journal. "Wasn't he the Dastardly to your Mutley?"

"Sam died last year," Dean said shortly.

"Maybe I was mistaken, but I was sure that I saw him exiting Harvelle's as I entered. He was with a petite blonde woman." Dean cursed and stood up abruptly.

"Son of a bitch! I need to go make a call," he snarled. Veronica nodded, wondering what had happened for Dean to think that Sam was dead while his friends harboured him in their bar. She listened as Dean's voice rose sharply, clearly he was shouting at someone on the other end of the phone.

"And you didn't think that it would be a good idea to let me know that my damn brother was alive? Damnit Jo, I trusted you... Well he's got a lot to answer for to... where is he now?... don't you dare warn him Joanna Beth Harvelle... don't give me that crap, I deserved to know... I don't care if he wasn't ready to talk... that's it. I'm done talking." She heard Dean slam his phone angrily closed and busied herself with the journal as he returned to the room. He sat down heavily at the table, and Veronica could see him fuming out of the corner of her eye. She rose slowly, trying not to draw his attention to her and walked over to the sofa in the next room. She grabbed the television remote and flicked the television on channel hopping randomly as she waited for Dean to calm down a little. Her attention was caught on a news channel as the image of a body bag was shown. People were carrying the bag on a gurney and loading it into a coroners van. She stopped channel hopping and turned the volume up.

"Another body had been found mutilated late last night in Kansas, in circumstances which appear to be similar to that of an ongoing FBI investigation. Police sources say that this looks like the work of one killer who picks their victims at random, one of them being the son of celebrated actors Aaron and Lynn Echolls, Logan Mars. A spokesperson for the FBI spoke at a press conference today." Veronica repressed a snarl as Agent John Berkley appeared on the screen.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation is deeply saddened at the recent developments within this case, and I wish to assure you that my team is doing its upmost to investigate and have no doubt that we will bring this monster to justice. We ask that the public cooperate with all and every member of the Bureau and anyone with information pertaining the case to come forward. However, I would like to add that we will not be releasing any details at this time as it could impair our investigation. Rest assured, America, my team will do all they can to bring the killer to justice."Berkley smiled in what Veronica assumed was meant to be a charming way, and told the audience that he would take any questions which he was able to answer. Veronica listened to the man's oily voice and internally cursed. She knew that Berkley would take advantage of the case to get his five minutes in the spotlight. David would have been better off leaving her on the case.

"This is our case isn't it," Dean's voice came calmly from behind her.

"Yes,"

"Where have the bodies been found?" she turned to look at him and noted that he looked calmer than before.

"Metropolis in Kansas," Veronica said as she stood up.

"Funny coincidence that. That's where Sam is. I owe my brother a swift kick in the ass, and I can do it while continuing the case." Dean stared to walk to the table.

"I'm coming with you." Veronica insisted. Dean turned to look her up and down.

"I don't know that that's such a good idea darlin'," He said gently.

"I have accepted that I can't solve this case on my own. Can you do the same and acknowledge that you need my contacts," Veronica stated a little angrily.

"Alright then, we'll go together."

"Off to see the wizard." Veronica said cheerily and Dean let out a burst of laughter.

"Cyborg and Impulse have found Mia," Chloe said to Oliver as she turned in her seat in Watchtower to see the fully suited up Green Arrow. "Cyborg has managed to knock her out, and is bringing her back here."

She looked to where Sam was meticulously replicating the symbols which had been in the room where Mia had become possessed on the floor of Watchtower, although thankfully without using blood.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Oliver asked. Sam looked up him contemptuously. The two men had been less than cordial to each other during the course of trying to find Mia, and Chloe couldn't understand the instant animosity they had felt for each other. From where she stood they were very similar, with hero complexes which could even rival that of Clark Kent's.

"Just get it here and you'll see," Sam said grumpily.

"It?" Oliver took offense to Sam referring to Mia as a thing.

"Yes. It. The demon will be in control, not your friend. You should remember that," he said emotionlessly. Oliver snorted and stood back.

"Incoming!" Cyborg's voice sounded over the computer's sound system. Sam made the last brush stroke on the floor and grabbed a chair to go in the middle of the symbols.

Bart came whizzing into the room, still in his Impulse gear. Victor followed him in soon after, carrying Mia.

"She's waking up," he warned as he put her on the chair. Bart whizzed around tying her securely to the chair. The rest of them stood back as Mia lifted her head, a snarl twisting her delicate features.

"Oh a tea party!" she said gleefully in a voice too low for her petite female frame. Chloe was forcibly reminded of the man that had attacked Mia in the room. According to Sam he had been possessed by the same demon as Mia and had possessed Mia when he had kissed her. "Can I play the Mad Hatter and pour the tea?"

"What is your name?" Sam said sternly, standing just outside the circle of symbols. Mia turned to him.

"Little Sammy Winchester, don't you know it's rude to ask a demon's name!" She mocked outrage. "It's sure a surprise to see you here, deary!"

"You're not going to be around for much longer demon," Sam said grimy as he started to chant in Latin.

Mia laughed in the unusually deep voice that sent chills down Chloe's spine.

"You really don't know how much bigger than me this all is!" She started to scream as the room shook and wind whipped around. Sam continued with the exorcism, determined not to get distracted. Oliver gripped Chloe's shoulder as they watched Mia begin to shake and writhe in the chair. _It's not Mia;_ she reminded herself _it's a demon in her body. We are rescuing Mia. _The room continued to shake. The demon got louder, pain evident in it's voice. It screamed and screamed. Chloe resisted the urge to plug her ears. Mia threw her head back and black smoke exploded uncontrollably from her mouth. Sam said the last few lines of the exorcism and smiled grimly. Mia lifted her head up and looked around the room confusedly.

"Chloe, Oliver, what the hell happened to me?" she said weakly. Both Chloe and Oliver looked towards him for some kind of indication of what they could do. He nodded slowly and Oliver rushed forward to the side of his protégée. Chloe meanwhile surprised herself by collapsing into Sam's arms. He pulled her close into him and sat down slowly onto the floor. He stroked her head slowly as she started crying.

"It's okay," he whispered, trying to calm her. He recognised the shock Chloe was going through. She had had to be calm and composed for the rest of her team, and had not had the time to freak out herself. Now that it was over, she had allowed herself to breakdown. It surprised Sam and warmed his heart in equal measures that she had found some modicum of comfort in him. He continued to stroke her hair as she cried. "Mia's okay now, Chloe."

Oliver and the rest of the team had taken Mia to see Emil, while Sam and Chloe had returned to Watchtower to try and make sense of everything that had happened over the course of Mia's possession. Sam pulled out his phone to check for messages from Jo or Ellen, while Chloe went through all of the records that Watchtower had of the time that Mia had been possessed. Sam was surprised to see a familiar number on the screen, and his heart sunk as he played the message.

"Samuel Winchester you better answer your god damn phone! Jo happened to just tell me that you're not dead! Thanks for letting me know that bro. You're a true angel! I'm in Metropolis. You better call me back, because you don't want me to be any more pissed than I am already!" Dean snarled into Sam's ear. Sam took a deep breath and turned to Chloe.

"I need somewhere to meet my brother. Can I let him know where we are?" He asked.

"Okay," Chloe said after a moment. "I'll give you the address to give him, tell him to come in the back."

Sam dialled Dean's number into his phone. The phone rang for a few moments, before it was picked up.

"Where are you?" Dean asked gruffly. Sam gave him the address.

"We're on our way." He said before he hung up the phone. Sam was left wondering who exactly we were.

Veronica and Dean looked up at the tall building above them, and looked again at the instructions that Sam had meticulously given them.

"I guess this is the place. Sam really said to go around the back?" Veronica asked Dean. He only nodded, and she walked forward to what seemed to be a disused entrance. She pulled open the door, and waited as Dean slowly made his way to her side. They both stepped in and the door sprang shut behind them. Veronica felt a familiar whooping sensation in her stomach as the floor started moving them upwards. They were plunged into darkness in the journey and Veronica automatically sought out Dean's hand. He didn't push her away and held on to her hand as they moved upwards rapidly.

"This is beyond weird," Veronica muttered. The lift came to a stop and a door opened in front of them. They stepped cautiously forward, their hands still linked.

"Agent Veronica Mars of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Dean Winchester, previously presumed dead have entered the building Miss Sullivan," an artificial voice said from above them. Another door opened and Veronica could see a woman standing in front of a computer monitor and Sam Winchester standing awkwardly beside her. Dean strode angrily forward, pulling his hand back. He punched Sam in the face. Hard. Sam stood still. Dean punched him again, and the two women gasped. Dean then grabbed his brother by the shoulders and pulled him into him, hugging him closely to him.

"Don't you fucking do anything like that to me again, Sammy," Dean growled into Sam's ear. Sam nodded his assent. The two brothers held each other for a few moments. They stepped back slowly.

"Son of a bitch Sammy, what are you doing here?" Dean asked him gruffly.

"Here as in inside this building? Helping Chloe with a JLA case that went beyond meta's. Here on earth? I have no fucking clue." Dean looked a little put out by his brother swearing.

"Sammy, you're not meant to curse. I'm the one who curses," he said, sounding offended. Sam chuckled.

"You going to sue me for trademark infringement?" he asked jokingly.

"Wait a second," Veronica said, startled by what she had just figured out. She had been standing there in silence while the brother's interacted, but was struck by the reference to the JLA. She looked around herself at all of the computers and hardware in the room. This was the headquarters of the JLA? Watchtower? That meant that the woman in front of her had to be the elusive master of Watchtower. "The JLA? As in the Justice League of America? The vigilante group that is wanted by the FBI. You're Watchtower?"

"Crap, Chloe I'm sorry," Sam looked contrite. Chloe looked exasperated.

"Yes. But I think you can understand why we need to exist now, don't you, Agent Mars. Normal officers couldn't deal with this kind of crap. We do what is necessary to deal with what is out there." Veronica looked at her for a second, before nodding.

"I understand. But I should turn you in, Oath and all that," Veronica shrugged.

"Yes, I do. But I honestly have to say you keeping your oath as a member of the FBI is hardly on my list of priorities at the moment," Chloe snapped back. Sam and Dean stood back and watched, amused as the two petite blonde spitfires argued.

"I said that I should. I didn't say that I would," Veronica said with a slight smile. Chloe smiled a little at that bit of wordplay. "And please, call me Veronica. I don't think that I'm going to be an agent for much longer if I carry on the way that I am going."

Chloe was about to respond when Oliver walked into the room. Chloe could have smacked herself on the head. Had she realised that Dean was keeping company with an FBI agent she would not have let Sam use Watchtower to meet his brother. Now Veronica would know that Oliver was involved in the Justice League. It was bad enough that she had figured out that Chloe herself was Watchtower, now she could ruin Oliver as well if she went to the FBI with the information she had gleaned. Since one of their more high profile attacks on a 33.1 facility the FBI had assigned a team to try and discover the identities of the Justice League and bring them in.

"Chlo, who are these people?" Oliver asked as he walked over to stand protectively by her side.

"Dean Winchester," Dean said gruffly.

"Veronica Mars," Veronica said, slightly startled by this revelation. She had met Oliver Queen briefly at one of Logan's fundraisers two years ago. Oliver was contributing a lot of money to the charity and Logan had wanted to thank him in person. Oliver looked a little struck by the name, as if trying to make the connection. If Veronica recalled correctly, Queen had sent her flowers when Logan's death had be unceremoniously revealed by the media. The card appeared to convey true emotions, not just the empty platitudes of a donor.

"Mars..." he said thoughtfully. Then his face lit up. "You were Logan Mars' wife."

"Yes." Veronica said simply

"Was?" Sam asked.

"He was murdered," Dean answered for Veronica. "That's kind of why we are in town..."

Veronica and Dean had filled Chloe, Oliver and Sam in on the case that they were following, and were stunned to know that the official who they had dubbed Victim number 9 was a judge, and had been killed by the possessed Mia. They all stood together, processing all of the information that they had each learnt in the short space of time. Chloe was typing rapidly on Watchtower's central computer as the other's scanned news broadcasts on the big screens.

"Guys," Sam said tentatively. "I think you might want to look at this." Chloe, Oliver, Dean and Veronica turned to the screen that Sam gestured to. Chloe sent that feed to the television and one by one the makeshift team filed to the sofa's and sat down.

They all sat in front of the television screen, awestruck by what they were seeing. Gordon Yaxley, David Thorman, Jacob Keynes and Darren Dohring all stood together doing a press conference. Yaxley was talking to the combined press in front of them all.

"We were kept in one room together, and were tortured by our captors for the time we were there. David, Jacob, Darren and I were let go a few days ago, although we have no idea why this happened, or even if where we were kept. We have found out from the FBI investigators that the bodies that they found were lookalikes, and that they were left in order to distract the investigators from looking for us. We will take questions now." Chloe pressed the mute button on the remote and looked to Dean and Veronica.

"What does this mean then?" she asked quietly.

"This can't be right," Veronica frowned. "I saw their bodies. They were not lookalikes. They were dead."

"So what the hell happened then?" Sam asked, sounding his own doubts aloud.

"Some freaky shit has gone down," Dean declared. "I guess we just have to investigate."

A sign flashed across the screen declaring: Breaking News! Chloe pressed the button to unmute the television.

"We have just been informed that Logan Mars has just been found alive!" The newscaster said excitedly. A short clip of film was showed. Logan was ushered from a car and escorted across to an unmarked building. Veronica's face dropped in surprise. The others in the room turned to her wordlessly.

"That's not my husband," Veronica said emotionlessly. "I saw his body. I know that it was not a doppelganger."

"Are you sure," Chloe said softly.

"It may look like him, but Logan is dead. We need to find out what the fuck is going on," Veronica said firmly.

"Let's get to work," Oliver said as the group stood up in unison.

"Well that was certainly melodramatic," Veronica sighed as she followed Chloe towards the computers. Chloe laughed and turned to the other blonde. The men in the group had left Watchtower, Oliver to see what he would be able to dig up from his corporate contacts, and Sam and Dean had left to investigate the latest crime scene to see if there were any similarities with the previous cases. Veronica and Chloe had opted to stay at Watchtower, claiming that they would be of better use doing research. Both women realised the two brothers need to be close to each other.

"Well I know that Oliver gets the tendency towards the melodramatic from being part of a team with Batman and the like," Chloe and Oliver had had a hasty discussion a couple of minutes earlier about what they should reveal to the newcomers, and had concluded that as a member of the FBI Veronica already probably knew a lot about the JLA, and if she was going to be working with them on this case then it was unlikely that she would be sharing any trade secrets. Chloe indicated a computer and turned to Veronica.

"I may have access to all of the databases that you have access to, but I was an investigative journalist. I can make patterns and investigate the supernatural side to this story, but I can guess that you have a greater understanding of criminal psychology. This computer has access to all of the databases that you might need," she said with a smile. Veronica smiled in return and sat down at the chair directly in front of the computer. Chloe stood at the table nearby, pulling streams of information from one screen to another, pausing occasionally to have a closer look at the data. The two women worked in companionable silence until Chloe looked up at Veronica.

"My husband died two years ago," Chloe said simply, shocking Veronica out of her research zone.

"What?" Veronica said softly, slightly confused by the other blonde's left field remark.

"He died in this room, after he was murdered. I know how you feel Veronica. And I can bet that right now its still so raw, specially with this lookalike turning up out of the blue, so I won't patronise you by telling you that it'll get better, or asking if you want to talk about it. But I am here," Chloe finished simply, her green eyes showing an empathy which could only have been gained through experience. Veronica looked at the other woman for a few long silent moments, feeling a sudden kinship arise between the two of them.

"Thank you," Veronica said quietly and the two women went back to their work.

"Veronica Mars and Chloe Sullivan?" a male voice asked, scaring Veronica and Chloe, as they had not heard anyone come into the room, and had not been warned by Watchtower. They turned to see a tall dark haired, attractive man in a suit and a trench coat standing in the middle of Watchtower. Chloe grasped a gun from a draw in the desk in front of her, while Veronica pulled hers from the holster she was carrying on her waist. They both held the guns up facing the man, who made no indication that they had startled him, or that he feared them shooting.

"I am Castiel," the man said stiffly. "Dean asked me to assist you."

"So how can you help us Castiel?" Veronica asked bluntly.

"I am an angel of the lord. I can read your enochian symbols."

**And thats the first part of the Skies on Fire series. I'm in the process of writing the sequel, and you find out about my progress, and see all of the awesome artwork that sarah_jones did for me on Livejournal (the link is in my profile) - its definitely worth a look! any reviews are very much appreciated!**


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